


This Moment Has Come Again

by Luvless34



Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020), On The Way To A Smile: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: F/M, Getting Together, Hope, Love, Plans For The Future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:22:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25291600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luvless34/pseuds/Luvless34
Summary: Takes place right after the defeat of Sephiroth in the final battle at the Northern Crater in OG, Cloud and Tifa are battling their desires to survive the onslaught of Meteor and Holy, and live to see another day. The Planet is left up to make that decision, but could they defy fate? One-Shot.Submission for Day One prompt of #EndlessSummer2020 by taking inspiration from Starship’s song “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.” Using the original dialogue that was ultimately changed in the final product of OG, but on what Cloud really meant to say to Tifa during that moment hanging above the Planet’s core.
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Comments: 1
Kudos: 29





	This Moment Has Come Again

Sephiroth’s blood covered face was stunned at the finality of the result of his battle against the weak grunt who dared defy him. He fell back as beams of energy erupted and stabbed through his body like swords. The menace glowed and erupted into a burst of light before darkness claimed him, leaving Cloud Strife alone in a dark endless space. 

_ It’s over _ , Cloud thought to himself. Sephiroth was defeated. Their last showdown that determined the fate of the Planet ended with him slashing through his former boyhood hero, destroying the epitome of evil. The man who deliriously thought to become a god of sorts by inflicting a massive wound onto the face of the Planet. 

The same man who stole innocent lives, including the sacrifice of Aerith Gainsborough on that fateful day in the Forgotten City, right in front of Cloud, who felt powerless to stop it. As if the Lifestream heard his thoughts, a warm beam of light shone on him. 

Glowing green light from the Lifestream swirled around Cloud like fireflies. He stared as several streams caressed his face and wrapped around his torso like an embrace. It was warm, and a little different from his previous experiences of being submerged in mako. This time, it was almost loving and peaceful. 

Cloud looked up, and through his own exhaustion, envisioned a hand reaching out to him. He smiled tiredly and reached out toward it, hoping to grasp it within his. He wasn’t sure exactly who he was reaching out to, but he wanted to be somewhere he could rest his head and actually have a good night’s sleep. 

It was at this moment, he didn’t know if he made it in time to stop Meteor from destroying the world. He was ready to let the Planet make the decision for him. As he reached out for the hand, he wondered who it was. The hero wondered if it was of his dearly departed friend, who was taken away from him. 

_ Aerith?  _ The blonde thought to himself.  _ Are you taking me to the Promised Land? _

_ “Cloud!” _ A voice called out to him. It sounded so distant, but each time his name was called, the voice seemed to draw closer to him.  _ “Cloud!” _

_ I’m sorry,  _ Cloud thought as he reached out further for the hand.  _ I’m so sorry. But we did it. Sephiroth is dead. Hopefully, Meteor will be stopped. We finished what you started. Thank you.  _

“Cloud!”

The man shook his head and saw a familiar face. It was Tifa. She was kneeling on a ledge that was beginning to dislodge itself from the rocky walls of the Planet’s core. The girl was reaching a hand out to him, begging him not to fall to his death and to regain his focus.

“Tifa?!” Cloud shouted. He was suddenly coming to his senses. He was still in the crater, deep inside the Planet’s core. The earth was crumbling all around him. He felt himself losing ground, his feet losing its steadfastness.  _ Is this how it’s going to end? _ He thought to himself. 

“Cloud! Hurry!” Tifa shouted, her eyes widening at the collapsing chasm. Suddenly, the ledge that Tifa was kneeling on gave way, dropping her toward the endless pit. Cloud’s senses finally returned to him to see the girl falling face-first down into the abyss. 

The girl who was falling, reminded Cloud so much of the time he failed to save her at Mt. Nibel as a child. It was as if his entire future was starting to head toward a dismal end. Yet, the sight of seeing the woman he loved dearly potentially dying in front of him, gave the man a sudden burst of energy. 

“No!” Cloud shouted. He ran as fast as he could toward Tifa. Through a perfectly timed jump, he leapt through the air and grabbed Tifa’s waist before hopping up and grabbing onto a smaller ledge while the ground cracked and disintegrated between the both of them. 

There the two were hanging on for dear life as the thunderous sound of rocks falling echoed all around them.  _ This is it,  _ Cloud thought to himself. Here he was, about to die with the girl he swore to protect since they were young children underneath the witness of the stars and moon. 

Tears were streaming down both their faces, wondering if this was really the end of the line for the both of them. After everything they had endured, this was going to be their last moment. Cloud closed his eyes, feeling his arms grow tired from holding onto the ledge while carrying Tifa. She had her arms wrapped around his waist, and her ruby eyes glittered with tears. 

“Tifa...are you OK?” Cloud asked her worriedly, feeling his body sway against the vibrations of the collapsing walls. 

“I’m...OK,” Tifa said in a near whisper.

The two of them fell silent as the world continued to fall apart around them. They were suspended above the Planet’s center, at the edge of the world. There was no knowing if the others had managed to get out of the crater before Cloud’s final battle with Sephiroth. 

“I guess it really was our last day together...it won’t ever come again,” Tifa laughed wistfully. “Thank you for letting me have that moment...I won’t ever forget it.”

_ No, this can’t be it!  _ Cloud thought.  _ We came too far to just die now...the Planet can’t be this cruel to us. Not after everything we’ve been through.  _

Something deep within Cloud shattered. He saw Tifa’s face. She looked scared and resigned to their situation. He recalled the last night they spent together underneath the Highwind. They had shared the depths of their feelings for each other without words. 

He remembered the stars in the sky, mirroring the one they had made the promise under as teens. Tifa had fallen asleep on his shoulder, and he held her close. It was one of the most intimate and beautiful moments he had experienced in his life, and it was with the girl he had fought so hard for. 

His life flashed before his eyes. He saw their future of being at peace with the world. Getting married and raising a family of their own. He saw themselves growing old, and the Planet healing itself from the extractions that Shinra had wreaked on it for corporate greed. 

There was nothing standing in their way now. Not Sephiroth, and not the Planet. It was going to be up to him and Tifa to create their own fate. And that fate, Cloud decided, was to live. 

  
  


The man looked up at the ledge, summoning as much strength as he could muster. He may have failed to catch Tifa when they were children, but he was not going to fail her now. No, she needed him. He needed her. 

“We’re going home, Tifa,” Cloud said through gritted teeth, breathing hard at the exhaustion that was settling into his arms.    
  


Tifa looked up at Cloud, bewildered. “Huh?” The girl seemed caught off guard by the man’s declaration. She had resigned that they were going to die in the crater and that the Planet would decide whether it would wipe out humanity. Tifa had accepted her fate, but somehow, her savior was continuing to push through the hopelessness for the both of them. 

“We have something we need to do when we get back,” he said to her. Rocks continued to fall and Tifa was stunned by the sheer strength of Cloud’s determination to hang on despite the world literally crashing all around them. “We haven’t...seen the other side of that mountain.”

The dreaded Mt. Nibel. When Tifa was a child, she thought her deceased mother was waiting on the other side of the mountain pass, where village lore stated that spirits passed through the peaks and toward the Promised Land as they crossed the dangerous cliffs and rugged terrain. 

Despite it all, here her hero was...continuing to fight until the end. He was fighting for them both, and that gave Tifa enough hope that they would survive and that they’d be OK. 

Because she had Cloud and Cloud had her. This time. From tomorrow on. They will have another tomorrow. Cloud looked at Tifa and with his eyes asked  _ Are you going to fight for us? _

She smiled a tiny smile and buried her face into Cloud’s side. “Yeah...let’s go home.”


End file.
